Tuesday, 18 January 2011

Dear Head of Department,Here we are at the margin of Europe.It is an ideal place to study cross-cultural interactionand the contemporary challenges of transitionfrom an agricultural and fishing subsistence economyto the wider boundaries of tourismand transient ex-patriate communities.I am out of shot carrying the First Aid Kit.I am working hard...Yours, most sincerely,Alice

with thanks to my colleagues...for their energy, enthusiasmand laughter.

Question :What is a Geographer?Answer :This question has not yet been answered.

(from WikiAnswers - October 09)

"...mere names of places...are not geography...to know by heart a whole gazetteer full of them would not, in itself, constitute anyone a geographer. Geography has higher aims than this: it seeks to classify phenomena (alike of the natural and of the political world, in so far as it treats of the latter), to compare, to generalize, to ascend from effects to causes, and, in doing so, to trace out the great laws of nature and to mark their influences upon man. This is 'a description of the world'—that is Geography. In a word Geography is a Science—a thing not of mere names but of argument and reason, of cause and effect."

William Hughes (1863)

"...the Department has a clear strength in fostering an environment of mutual respect between staff and students in which teaching and learning can flourish."

Periodic Review (March 2007)

"A careful, pedestrian writer, he is interested not only in the grandiose or the exquisite but in unusual sights and obscure ritual. He is occasionally careless, or makes unwarranted inferences, and his guides or even his own notes sometimes mislead him; yet his honesty is unquestionable, and his value without par."

I have edited the posts to remove references that only make sense in the original context and I decided not to import the comments associated with each post. Please click on the link at the bottom of each post if you want to read the comments.